Professions & Careers

[swilson]

I am currently a PhD student studying Public Health. I also worked in the government for a little while as a health scientist after I completed two master degrees. I guess you can say I am a professional student! lol.

Best,
Simone

Fused May 11th 2009 T5 to L1.
Home recovering well!

[skoshi314]

I am an executive assistant to an Oklahoma State Senator. He is truly "one of the good guys" and has been incredibly understanding about my back issues and time off. I'm very fortunate!

[leahdragonfly]

I think TiEd's post and photo are hysterical, and CD, I love your post, too. That was funny about what the moms say about being on the side of the road! Isn't being a parent really the most important and challenging job we can have? I found becoming a parent showed me a whole new dimension of love, and, of worry.

Besides being a parent, I am an RN. I worked for 10 years in Critical Care, then 7 in Interventional Cardiology, with 3 years in Endoscopy thrown in. I am now happy to be back in Interventional Cardiology and Radiology. Nursing is really a great career with a lot of flexibility (although not always easy on the back-haha). Jimbo, I wish you well in your studies.

[nervous]

I work at a top 10 Fortune 500 Insurance Company managing succession needs and identifying talent for the organization.

To help give eveyone hope, I went back to work 9 weeks post-op part time. I am now back to work full time and am almost 3 months post-op.

This surgery has changed my life for the better! I pray to God everything continues to heal well!

[timetofaceit]

I am an office manager for a general dentist and I own and operate a private piano studio in our home.

[Fit Kit]

I have worked in the deaf education field for 34 years in various areas ranging from a dorm mom to Jr. High girls and boys to a fitness trainer to students and staff for the last 5 years. I made a drastic career change at the age of 50 and became centified as a personal trainer. Oh by the way I was Ed T's personal body building coach..he wanted to buff up a little !!! I dearly love my job and hope I can return to work in Aug. and continue to do my job well. My surgery was 5 weeks ago and so far I'm doing amazingly well.
A great thread!!

[RitaR]

Hello All,
I am a Medical Transcriptionist locally having been so for 25+ years...
Thanks.

[asccbodypro]

I retired from teaching June '08--mostly 7th and 8th grade English but had upper grades a few years too--after 34 and 1/2 years of teaching. Janet

All I can say is god bless you for investing your time and energy in to teaching our youth! I am a firm believer that our teachers are far to under paid!

[asccbodypro]

I was a personal trainer up until 5 years ago when my scoliosis started to progress and the pain made me pursue another line of work for a while to give my back a rest. I had a client who sold time share here in Virginia Beach so I gave that a try for 2 years before my back took me out of that as well! Hopefully if all goes well with recovery the personal training industry will see me again. I loved loved loved it! I regret accepting the pain for so long.

[Doodles]

Susan--What a sweetheart you are! I appreciate your kind words. I think more often people think we're crazy to deal with that age--probably some truth there too! I sure hope your recovery is such that you can return to the job you love as a personal trainer. Janet

[JenniferG]

Good luck Susan. It's so special to have a vocation that you love.

[Christl]

My daughter is scheduled for surgery in less than 3 weeks. She is 15 and wants to be a large animal veterinarian specializing in horses. I wonder what her odds are of making this one come true with her scoliosis. Our vet said that large animal care is very physically demanding.

[Pooka1]

My daughter is scheduled for surgery in less than 3 weeks. She is 15 and wants to be a large animal veterinarian specializing in horses. I wonder what her odds are of making this one come true with her scoliosis. Our vet said that large animal care is very physically demanding.

Once scoliosis is stabilized I don't know why she can't do that.

With that said, I know first-hand and from speaking to folks that there is a certain attrition rate in large animal practice with folks working with horses. I personally lost a great vet who said she was just burned out going out on colic cases at 3:00 AM in sub-zero weather to tube a horse, etc. She told me she was taking a break from her career as she was stringing a shoe-lace-type string through two holes in my horse's face to keep the drainage open for a few days.

I suspect unless they have their own practice and have enough clients, the pay, especially at first, simply doesn't justify the amount and type of work involved. And that's a kick in the teeth when it is far harder to get a slot in vet school than in med school.

I don't know about the attrition rate for large animal vets who don't work with horses but I suspect it might be similar.

My fused daughter wants to be a vet with an exotics emphasis and work at a zoo. Very competitive.

My other daughter wants to be a PhD scientist. MUCH less competitive and likely pays more even to start and is less physically demanding in general.

[LindaRacine]

My daughter is scheduled for surgery in less than 3 weeks. She is 15 and wants to be a large animal veterinarian specializing in horses. I wonder what her odds are of making this one come true with her scoliosis. Our vet said that large animal care is very physically demanding.

Hi Christi...

The only thing I would be concerned about is the fact that she may have to routinely lift a lot of weight. Since something like 85% of adults will have at least one episode of back pain in their lives, it's probably pretty close to 100% for people with scoliosis. Routinely having to lift a lot of weight can be hard on one's back. My recommendation would be to see if you can get her into a routine of core strengthening exercises that can limit potential problems.

Regards,
Linda

[Ballet Mom]

Hi Christl,

My veterinarian appears to have had scoliosis surgery at some point in her life although I have never actually asked her to confirm this. I would say she is in her mid-thirties to early forties. She walks very straight and stiff and one shoulder hangs lower than the other. The other shoulder is at the normal position.

She is an absolutely lovely and wonderful vet and I ask for her specifically when I bring my dogs in. Unfortunately, my dogs are quite big and need to be checked on the ground and not on the exam table. And on top of that, both my dogs will lie down on their side to get a belly rub when she comes near. She has to sit on a chair and then try to lean down to them, all the while complaining of her bad back. Perhaps she has a very long fusion or other problems, but if she’s typical, I have a hard time imagining her being able to get down beside large animals on the ground and doing anything more than a quick exam. I can’t imagine her dealing with a difficult birth, for instance.

However, perhaps you could speak with your daughter’s surgeon, he would probably know better than anyone, as he would know the length of the fusion, etc. When our original surgeon was talking about surgery for my daughter, I asked about a professional ballet career after surgery, and he said he didn’t want to crush anyone’s dreams, but he felt a professional ballerina would need all the flexibility in her spine in order for her to be one. He said if she’d just chosen professional tennis as her love, she’d be fine.

Anyhow, good luck to her, hopefully she’ll be fine being a large animal vet, but at least it’s something to consider and ask more questions about.